It ’s in all likelihood fair to say that iTunes is the Apple app that people love to hate . Lots of people expend it — more than any other Apple app , since it ’s the depositary for music and picture collections , the tool many people use to sync media and apps to their iOS devices , and the gateway to the iTunes Store on estimator .
iTunes tries to do a lot , and many people wish to expend the discussion “ bloated ” when hash out the package . ( I disagree with that term . ) But it ’s dead on target that there are a deal of things in iTunes that do n’t work well , or do n’t work as they should . I ’ve been looking closely at iTunes in recent month , and on my website Kirkville , I ’ve been writinga serial of articles about how I recall Apple should fix iTunes . ( I should note that , since I lead off the serial , Apple has fix two of the job I pointed out . )
Here are six mode that Apple should sterilise iTunes .
1. Sync
This has to be one of the biggest problems with iTunes , and the one I get the most email about , both through my website , and in questions for my Ask the iTunes Guy tower here on Macworld . Sync is discover . Many mass simply can not synchronise their Io twist , whether they are old or brand new . This article on my websiteshows the extent of this problem , with more than 170 drug user so far chiming in about their issues .
I think I ’ve found one of the main issue induce these problems : I ’m pretty sure thatit ’s related to to iOS equipment contacting the iTunes Store during syncs . But Apple has not confirmed this , and has been unhelpful to many users with sync issues , exchanging unexampled iOS gadget that wo n’t sync , and even advise that user buy new figurer . I find it peculiarly frustrating that Apple is deaf about these problem . synchronise needs to be fixed .
2. “Other” storage
Every iOS equipment or iPod show a certain amount of “ Other ” entrepot when you seem at the electrical capacity bar in iTunes . For most exploiter , this is a small amount : maybe 1 - 2 gibibyte . Other storage , according to Apple , is made up of “ preferences , Siri voice , and other system data . ” That ’s all well and good , until you find that your iPhone shows 40 GB of Other storage , and wo n’t rent you synchronise any new content .
“ Other ” storage is frustrating and unintelligible .
Other storage has always been mysterious , and probably include thing such as caches , logs , and also orphan files . Apple needs to come up a way to excuse what this “ Other ” storage is , and how to remove it , without restoring the gimmick . ( In spitefulness of legion method acting being suggested on forums and web log , the only reliable manner to remove it is to bushel the gadget . ) It ’s another irritation that frustrates users to no end .
3. iTunes Match
iTunes Matchis a great idea — when it cultivate . It often does n’t . cartroad do n’t jibe reliably , downloads are sometimes truncate , or are n’t the same versions of songs that were equalize , and more and more users are hitting the 25,000 cartroad limit .
Too many songs ? iTunes Match is n’t for you .
Apple should address iTunes Match issues so this feature article works as advertise . And they need to either increase the limit so users with large music libraries can benefit from iTunes Match , or introduce a way to turn out certain tracks in an iTunes library from being pit . Perhaps iTunes Match wo n’t be around long , with Apple rumor to launch a new cyclosis service , but if it does remain , in needs a makeover .
4. Home Sharing
Home Sharing — the ability to share an iTunes library across a meshing — is great . But sometimes it ’s not . It ’s notoriously treacherous , working for some masses from one machine to another , but not in the diametrical direction . Many people have to always restart their computers and Apple TVs to get it to work out . And do n’t even try and load a turgid iTunes library on an iOS gadget ; it loosely time out .
I ’ve never been able to stretch my shared iTunes library on an iOS equipment . It just times out .
base Sharing decidedly needs attention , especiallyif Apple is design an upgrade to the Apple TV , since it ’s the way most people get at the depicted object stored in iTunes .
5. Tagging
shred are what you apply to make your medium data file usable . They are things such as the name of an record album , movie , song , or creative person . But , for the most part , iTunes ’ tagging organization is still as it was when the app was first released back in 2001 .
I get lots of emails to my necessitate the iTunes Guy column about tagging , and one thing most people require is the power to employ multiple tags . Think of the way you could use tags in the Finder : you could tag a file cabinet with , say , Work , In Progress , Finance , and anything else you require .
In iTunes , you ’re limited to single tags . One tag that want expansion is the Genre rag . There ’s a fortune of music that does n’t fit easy into just one genre . With multiple musical genre tags , you could organize music by decade , with Rock and 90 both listed for your Nirvana albums ; Be Bop , malarkey and 40 for your Charlie Parker recordings ; and Pop and 60s for your Beatles record album . When you browse your iTunes depository library , you would find that Pink Floyd ’s Dark Side of the Moon might show up in several genres , such as Rock , Progressive Rock , and 70s , according to the tags you ’ve added .
It would be great if you could use multiple tags in iTunes . Here ’s an instance with multiple genres .
6. Bring back multiple windows
What a personnel casualty when iTunes took forth the ability to have more than one windowpane undefended at a metre . You used to be able-bodied to have , for instance , one window showing your Music library , and another displaying the iTunes Store . Or you could afford two windows when you were create playlists : one you ’d use to browse your medicine , and another with your new playlist , allowing you to drag and drop items from one to the other , and re - order them easily .
It ’s not that complicated to bring back multiple window ; after all , iTunes had this feature for years . It would make the app a lot more operational .
